INDIA: HC REDUCES DEATH SENTENCE TO LIFE, JUNKS RAPE CHARGE

September 11, 2025:

The Calcutta High Court on September 1st, 2025, commuted the death penalty of a 42-year-old man convicted of the murder of a six-year-old at Uttarpara to life imprisonment and acquitted him of charges of rape as the autopsy surgeon mentioned nothing about sexual assault.
The child's body was found decomposed six days after she went missing on July 15, 2019.
The high court, while reducing the sentence to life, also mentioned the social status report, which highlighted that the convict, a construction worker, came from a village with no prior incidents of violence reported against him and that he could be reformed.
Ajgar Ali Khadimunsari was the neighbour of the child from Uttarpara. He used to visit their home regularly and bring food items for the victim and her three-and-a-half-year-old brother. On July 15, 2019, at 5 pm, when the children were playing outside while their mother was busy with household chores, the convict took the girl with the promise of getting her food items. Her body was found decomposed at the Kheyadaha project site in Uttarpara on July 21, 2019, after the arrest of Ajgar, who guided the police to the spot.
Her apparel, a button from Ajgar's shirt, and a beedi were found, which later did not match Ajgar's DNA, but the button did match. After arrest, Ajgar confided that while committing the sexual assault, he suffered injuries to both of his knees. However, the convict's counsel argued that his statement to the medical officer was an extrajudicial confession and that he suffered third-degree injuries, which could not be relied upon.
The division bench of justices Debangsu Basak and Md Shabbar Rashidi noted that even if they did not rely on the confession, the convict was unable to explain how he got injured on his knees. They also noted that the autopsy surgeon did not state anything about sexual assault.